Don't Carve A Pumpkin For Halloween- Carve A Turnip Jack O'Lantern

In remembrance of the original Jack O’lantern, which were NOT carved out of pumpkins, try something so old it’s new. Carve a Turnip Jack O’Lantern for Halloween just like the Irish, Scots and Brits used to before bright orange pumpkins became the norm. Or do as the French do in the Northern parts of France and carve a beet lantern. Read on to learn more about this fun project.

Getting to the root of it. Why carve a turnip?

A few years ago I was searching the internet to see if I could find a pumpkin patch to take my kids to in the south of France. Never found one by the way. They were all located too far from us, mainly outside of Paris. I did however discover something about the tradition of carving pumpkin Jack O’lanterns that was so different, so new to me, I actually didn’t believe it when I first read it.

The original European Jack-O-lanterns named for the Irish myth , were carved mainly from turnips and other roots such as rutabagas, potatoes or beets and looked truly grotesque and monstrous compared to today’s festive or goofy carved orange pumpkins.

In fact, it wasn’t until the mid 1800’s, when Irish and Scottish immigrants brought their custom of carving lanterns out of roots to the US and Canada where the tradition changed. The newly arrived immigrants discovered North American orange pumpkins were perfect for carving and so began the new custom of carving orange pumpkins which is now popular throughout the world, not just in North America.

The exception is Northern France who carve not turnips and not pumpkins but big sugar beets.

I decided to give turnip carving a go and created several turnip Jack O’lanterns this Halloween with my daughter. Of course we also carved a pumpkin and made pumpkins seeds.

Advantages of carving turnip Jack O’lanterns

To be honest, I didn’t have a lot of faith in carving turnips into Jack O’lanterns. I thought they would be more difficult than carving a pumpkin because I kept reading how the Irish and Scots found pumpkins easy to carve.

To my surprise, it was just as easy if not easier to carve a turnip. In a matter of 15 minutes, my daughter and I had carved several adorably scary turnip Jack O’lanterns. Something you can’t really do with a pumpkin because you have to first gut the pumpkin and then slowly work your knife through the thick skin of the pumpkin to carve it. Both can be very time consuming.

Here are 9 benefits to carving turnips and roots into Jack O’Lanterns instead of pumpkins.

No scooping out messy seeds, no big pumpkin mess

Turnips are smaller and more portable than pumpkins so you can easily use them as actual Jack O’lanterns or hang them from a tree outside.

Turnips are also cheaper so you can afford to make dozens of carved turnips to display around the house, on your windowsills or outside.

You can easily let your kids do a lot of the work because it’s easier for them to scoop than a big heavy pumpkin.

With its reddish white exterior and root like characteristics, turnips look more interesting than a carved pumpkin. Maybe scarier?

Candles tends to flicker more in a turnip because they are less protected than in a pumpkin which makes the turnip look spookier….. But the candle tends do get blown out more easily as a result. (not a positive)

Unlike pumpkins, turnips and various other roots are fairly easy to find almost everywhere all year round. Even in France.

No waste! After you scoop out the innards of the turnips, you can use the guts to make yummy mashed turnips.

You can carve turnips and roots all year round into different things like votive holders unlike pumpkins which only look appropriate during Halloween. (see photos below)

English Heritage wants you to use turnips due to a possible pumpkin shortage

There have been several attempts to revive this almost forgotten tradition of carving turnip Jack O’lanterns. In 2015, a pumpkin shortage led to the English Heritage calling for Brits to rediscover and bring back the original tradition of turnip carving to address reduced supplies of pumpkins caused by wet weather. English Heritage even installed a number of ghoulishly carved turnips at the Dover Castle to inspire you. I don’t think it’s really caught on yet but time will tell.

Make a simple turnip votive all year round

For a more elegant turnip that you can use all year round, turn that turnip into a tea light holder to put on the dinner table or coffee table. Martha Stewart says to use varying sizes for the most interesting display and not to leave lit candles unattended. DUH!

Carve other roots like potatoes

If turnips are not available or you want to try your hand at carving other roots and vegetable like the Irish, Scots and English used to, just walk into your kitchen and take a look in your vegetable drawer. Pull out a potato, a beet, a butternut squash or a rutabaga and start carving away.

The 2 Beet Lantern carving customs in France

A very small percentage of the French population actually get into the spirit of Halloween let alone carve pumpkins. As I mentioned earlier however, certain parts of Norther France have the tradition of carving not pumpkins, not turnips but beets. And not any old beet you find at the supermarket. They carve huge sugar beets which are much larger than your garden variety that you find at the supermarket.

Grimacing Beets of Lorraine “les Betteraves Grimaçantes”

The children of Lorraine, a historical region in northeast France which borders Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany have a tradition of carving grimacing beet lanterns “les Betteraves Grimaçantes”. They then place the carved beet lanterns on their windowsill. This night occurs on the eve of “all Saints day” but is not called Halloween. Instead it is called ” nuit des betteraves grimaçantes or Rommelbootzen” which translates to “The night of the grimacing beets”.

Decorated Beets of Boulonnais during Christmas

In Boulonnais, a coastal area in northern France near Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer, there is a carved beet lantern festival called “la fête des guénels”.

A Guénels is a carved beet lantern and is the middle aged phonetic spelling for the word Gai Noel.

The custom of of beet carving in this region is centred around the story of Petit Pierre. There are several versions of this story but the gist of the folklore is that Petit Pierre, a very poor boy wanted to make some money for Christmas. So on the eve of Christmas, he carved a face into a beet and placed a candle in it to use as a lantern to illuminate the dark night so he could go door to door asking the bourgeois boulonnais for money.

The municipality of Boulogne drops truck loads of huge beets in the street. Kids then go around colleting their beets to carve which they will then use to go door to door asking for treats while singing the traditional song called « Ô Guénel » .

Although it sounds a lot like Halloween and trick-or-treating and perhaps is related to the Celtic tradition, it is actually celebrated for Christmas but only in the Boulonnais area of France which has it’s own unique customs and traditions.

There is also a a festival of carved beets called “la fête des guénels” with a beet carving contest. After the contest, children parade in the streets « défilé des guénels » asking passer-byers for sweets «les sucreries» while again singing a traditional song called « Ô Guénel » .